Knee protection is important to people who for whatever reason need to kneel on any fairly hard surface. It is especially important to tradespeople who often must kneel on particularly hard surfaces like brick, concrete, etc. while performing their jobs.
One type of knee protection device is held in covering relation to the anterior of the knee by adjustable and/or elastic straps that girdle the leg both above and below the knee. The straps are tightened to some degree around the leg and that may cause some discomfort to the wearer due to constriction of the leg. When worn around a trouser leg, the straps also bunch the trouser material while constricting the leg. Such a knee protection device may be constructed to have a hard outer shell with a softer, cushioned pad lining the inside. When the person wearing such a device stands and ambulates after kneeling, the presence of the device is often noticeable.
An alternate arrangement for knee protection comprises a kneepad disposed in a pocket on the outside of a trouser leg knee. Such a pocket can be sewn onto a new or a used pair of trousers.
The environment in which a person uses knee protection may be one in which debris accumulates on the kneeling surface. A pocket that is not fully closed, or another type of device that is somewhat open, may provide an opportunity for such debris to find its way into the pocket, or between the knee and the protection device, and that is undesirable because intrusion of harder pieces of debris behind the pad or protector will be felt by the wearer, often painfully. In any event, the intrusion of debris, dust, and the like dirty a pocket and pad, and the pad eventually requires removal.
Examples of various knee protection arrangements for use with trousers appear in various patents. Many are poorly suited for use in an environment that contains debris. Many are not especially comfortable to wear. None of those patents that the inventor has seen show or suggest the inventive article that is being disclosed here for enabling a trouser leg to be provided with a kneepad in a novel way.